马桶水循环再生后，你愿意喝吗？

“科研圈”报道·ID keyanquan·

循环再生的废水可以做到比瓶装水更干净，但因恶心于其不堪的过去，人们仍然不愿饮用再生水。

图片来源：pixabay

翻译 阿金

你愿意去喝曾经冲过马桶的水吗？当然，是在净化之后。气候在变暖，像加州这样容易干旱的地区数量也在持续上升，因此，将废水循环再生成饮用水可能会成为必要之举。但是：

“人们如此不待见再生水是因为它来源于废水，就是那种从你家厨房下水道、浴室、还有马桶里流过的水。即使在净化后达到的标准与商业瓶装水相同甚至更高，阻止人们接受再生水的主要障碍始终是人们的恶心感。”加州大学河滨分校（University of California, Riverside）的心理学家丹尼尔·哈尔蒙（Daniel Harmon）说道。

在最近的系列实验中，哈尔蒙和同事玛丽·高文（Mary Gauvain）了解到了人们想到喝再生水时，要克服自身的恶心感是多么的不容易。

“我们的研究目的是调查我们看到的媒体信息，比如包含环境友好信息的商业或者网络短视频，是否真正发挥了作用，也就是这些信息能否让人们接受并饮用再生水。”

在其中一项实验中，研究人员让一些受试者观看宣传节约用水的短视频；在另一项实验中，他们添加了另一视频，解释了为什么除去了所有污物的再生水还是会让人恶心。然而，两个视频对激发人们饮用再生水的意愿都没产生强烈影响，人们也不太愿意签名支持饮用再生水。

“视频信息确实让人们更容易接受再生水，但它不足以让人们真正饮用再生水，也就是并没有成功转化成行动。”

实际上，相比单看节约用水的视频，直接点明再生水“恶心”因素的视频并没有更具说服力。也许因为“没有感情”的理性和逻辑只能走到这里了。

“恶心感是一种如此强有力的核心反应，一旦产生这种强烈的情绪，仅仅提供更多信息不会真正有效果，因为恶心感并不算是一种理性的反馈。”

该研究发表在《基础与应用社会心理学》（Basic and Applied Social Psychology）杂志上。

哈尔蒙说，想要让人们真正接受再生水，只是分享短视频短消息是远远不够的，可能需要做到比如说，亲眼看到身边的人喝下所谓“从马桶到水龙头”的再生水，而且也没有产生任何不适，或许才会有所帮助。

“我们认为，这种更加直接的‘接受运动’才是我们跨越心理障碍的必要条件，先抿下第一口再说。”

来，走一杯！

Would you drink water that had once been flushed down a toilet? After it’s been cleaned, that is. The climate is warming, and the population of drought-prone states like California continues to grow. So recycling wastewater into drinking water may become a necessity. But:

“People are grossed out by recycled water, because it as was once wastewater—you know, the stuff that goes down your kitchen drains, your showers, your toilets. And even though it’s cleaned up to a standard that is identical, if not better, than commercially bottled water, the key barrier to recycled water acceptance is people’s disgust regarding it.”

University of California, Riverside, psychologist Daniel Harmon. In a recent set of experiments, Harmon and his colleague Mary Gauvain learned just how difficult it can be for people to get over their disgust at the thought of drinking recycled water.

“Our study was aimed at investigating whether the media messages that we see—you know, commercials or brief Internet videos; these pro-environmental messages—whether they actually work. Whether they can get people to accept recycled water and consume recycled water.”

In one experiment, the researchers had some participants watch a short video promoting water conservation. And in another experiment, they added a video explaining why recycled water might trigger disgust, even though all contaminants have been removed. And neither video had a strong effect on people’s willingness to drink recycled water or to sign a petition supporting the practice.

“The messages did sort of make people more positively predisposed to recycled water, but it was not enough to get them to actually use recycled water more. It didn’t actually translate to behaviors.”

In fact, viewing the video that directly addressed recycled water’s “ick” factor was no more persuasive than the water conservation video alone. Perhaps because dispassionate reason and logic only go so far.

“Disgust is such a powerful core reaction. It’s such a powerful emotion that simply giving more information is not going to really be effective because disgust is not really a rational response.”

The study appears in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology. [Daniel Harmon and Mary Gauvain, Influence of Internet-based messages and personal motivations on water-use decisions]

Harmon says it’s probably going to take a lot more than just brief Internet messaging to get people to embrace recycled water. For example, it might help to see members of their community drinking water that’s gone, as it’s called, from “toilet to tap,” with no ill effects.

“We think that these kind of more direct campaigns for acceptance are necessary to get people to get over that hump—to take that first sip, so to speak.”

Cheers!

—Susanne Bard

相关链接：https://www.linkresearcher.com/careers/6eb748df-23a3-491f-926b-4f714a7941ce